The battle of Naupactus (429 BC) was a second Athenian naval victory won in a short period around the Gulf of Corinth, but was won by a very narrow margin and only after the narrow failure of a Peloponnesian plan to trap the entire Athenian fleet.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The battle of Chalcis (429 BC) was the first of two Athenian naval victories won in the same year in the Gulf of Corinth that helped demonstrate their naval superiority in the early part of the Great Peloponnesian War.

The battle of Stratus (429 BC) was a Spartan defeat that ended a brief campaign designed to drive the Athenians out of Acarnania, the area to the north-west of the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth (Great Peloponnesian War)

The siege of Potidaia (432-430/29 BC) saw the Athenians besiege a city that was part of their empire, and was one of a series of relatively minor military clashes that helped to trigger the Great Peloponnesian War.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The Polikarpov R-5 was a biplane reconnaissance aircraft and light bomber that was produced in vast numbers in the Soviet Union in the pre-war years, but that had largely disappeared from front line units during 1941.

The Polikarpov R-1 was the first military aircraft to be produced in the Soviet Union and was a redesigned version of the de Havilland DH-9, mainly powered by the Soviet-built M-5 version of the American Liberty Engine.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The battle of Sybota (433 BC) was an inconclusive naval battle between Corinth and Corcyraean that saved Corcyra from invasion, but that also played a part in the outbreak of the Great Peloponnesian War.

The battle of Leucimme (435 BC) was a naval victory won by Corcyra over the Corinthians that gave them control of the seas around the western coast of Greece and allowed them to launch raids on Corinth's allies for much of the next year

The Corinth-Corcyra War of 435-431 BC began as a dispute between Corinth and her colony Corcyra, but the Athenians were soon dragged into the conflict, and it contributed to the outbreak of the Great Peloponnesian War.

Friday, April 08, 2011

The Polikarpov I-16 was the last of Nikolai Polikarpov's fighter designs to enter production, and was the most important fighter aircraft in the Red Air Force by 1940. It was also the first monoplane fighter with an enclosed cockpit and retractable undercarriage to enter front line service anywhere in the world

The Polikarpov VIT-1 was a cannon-armed ground attack aircraft produced in response to a Red Air Force specification for an aircraft capable of attacking tanks or other small but high value battlefield targets.

"Fallschirmjager": Elite German Paratroops in World War II , Jon Sutherland and Diane Canwell.

This is a visually fascinating book consisting of the personal photo album of a German paratrooper sergeant in World War II. The photos roughly in chronological order follow the Elite German paratroopers through the Balkans and Greece and during the massive airborne assault on Crete. The book concludes with photos of the Russian front but these tend to be less interesting. A brief but interesting text places the photos in context and for most part explains what is shown in them. As the book is mostly photographs it makes for a quick read but the non professional and mostly non posed photographs give a poignant insight of the reality of war for these legendary elite infantry.

Best known for his role in Operation Market Garden, 'Boy' Browning was far from a typical Guards officer, growing up with theatrical connections in a family linked to the Savoy Hotel, and involved in the importing of Hennessy brandy into the UK, industry, while Boy married Daphne du Maurier and worked for Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh after the war.